Difference between Oxford Dictionary's phonetics and Google Translator's!

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Asgarpour

Junior Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2014
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Student or Learner
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
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Iran
Why are there differences between Oxford Dictionary's phonetics and Google Translator's?

For example, the words "clear" and "require":

Google Translator:
clear: kli(ə)r
require: riˈkwīr

Oxford Dictionary:
clear: ˈklir
require: rəˈkwī(ə)r

I'd be thanking for your explanation to me which one is better, Oxford Dictionary's or Google Translator's?
 
I wouldn't say they were remarkably different. Oxford is British, and Google is American. This is a minimal difference when compared to real diversity of accents in the English-speaking world.
I say the schwa in both words. That is, 'clear' has two syllables and 'require' has three.
 
There is no clear standard for the phonetic symbols among dictionaries. And that is a problem. For example, the three dictionaries listed in the following list use different phonetic symbols for "clear". See here.

For me, "clear" is one syllable and "require" is two syllables.
 
Different dictionaries may use different systems, and they will normally have a page giving the system in full. The most widely used system is the IPA one, so I would recommend using that rather than a dictionary's individual version.
 
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